In response to a complaint from a parent of an elementary school student, three high school libraries in Florida have restricted access to the award-winning This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki.

Withdrawing a book from circulation—which makes it disappear as effectively as burning—is a dangerous course. The book is gone. By the same logic, other books will also disappear, or never be written. But there’s another compelling cause for concern: Censorship often works against those who are the most marginalized—historically, women, minorities, and dissidents.

In wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, players in the cartoon/graphic artist world gathered at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York City to discuss issues, including censorship, satire, and the power of the visual medium.

A proposed bill in Kansas removes the protection of educators against prosecution for sharing so-called “harmful material” in schools. Senate Bill 56 has sparked strong partisanship, and the American Library Association is closely monitoring its progress.

Nonprofit group Highland Park Kids Read is set to protest the pulling of “objectionable” books from the district’s curricula at a December 9 board meeting of the Highland Park Independent School District.

SLJ was on hand to fete the 40th anniversary celebration of the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) on November 3 with luminaries from the children’s literature and YA world, including honorees Neil Gaiman and Robie Harris, and NCAC co-chair Judy Blume.

This month’s industry news features a $2 million Teen Learning Lab launching in Memphis, the winners of a National Coalition Against Censorship essay contest about The Miseducation of Cameron Post, and STEAM mini-grants from ALSC.

Participants in a New York Public Library Children’s Literature Salon discussed pressing censorship issues, from self-censorship by authors and librarians to schools that rate titles for appropriateness, and the chilling impact a challenge can have on a book.

More than 200 people gathered on Tuesday in New York City to toast YA author Sherman Alexie, who was being honored by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) at its annual “Free Speech Matters” event. NJ librarian Wilma J. Grey was also honored.

The Kids’ Right to Read Project (KRRP) announced that it has urged New Mexico’s Alamogordo Public School district to return Neil Gaiman’s urban fantasy novel Neverwhere to high school English classrooms.

The inclusion of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian—winner of the 2007 National Book Award—on a required summer reading list for sixth graders has raised the ire of a group of parents in Belle Harbor, NY, who have successfully called for its removal, the Daily News has reported.

A host of teen filmmakers were on hand this Saturday at the New York Film Academy for Youth Voices Uncensored, a screening of the winners of The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Youth Free Expression Project’s film contest, which tackled the topic of book banning.

New York Times best-selling author Ellen Hopkins, Newbery medalist Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, and First Amendment activist Chris Finan were all recognized by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) on November 12 for their work defending free speech.